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It recounts her move to school-based healthcare in the San Francisco Unified School District, her focus on single-site relationships, and the unmet need for fully staffed nursing. 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Nursing fit those criteria even though she had limited prior exposure to hospitals or serious illness.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"What changed for her when she became a mother in 1996?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"Hospital phone calls in the middle of the night became more challenging. She sought daytime work within her expertise and applied for a school nurse position.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What does a school nurse do when students arrive with concerns?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"She assesses students’ physical health, determines what services they may need, and connects them to care. She also monitors chronic conditions and responds to emergencies, and she supports students whose mental health challenges may appear as physical complaints.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},591549,1792876738,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":34,"category_name":35,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":19,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":81,"language":139,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":143,"read_time":39,"preview_page_count":4},962088121634,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_9964176cb1d06d4a9deccf72a44ae3dc","School Nurses Make a Difference  \nBY SUSAN KITCHELL  \nWhile studying comparative literature in graduate school, I woke up one day and realized I needed to choose a career path. I made a list of various possibilities based on two criteria: I wanted to be able to support myself anywhere in the world, and I wanted to complete whatever studies the career required in a short amount of time. It may seem pretty odd based on my interest in literature, but I put nursing on the list. Having never been inside a hospital or around anyone seriously ill, I knew very little about nursing as a career choice, but it seemed to ful ll my criteria. In the end, it was the path I chose.  \nThe next step was guring out how to become a nurse. From watching TV, it seemed to me as though all nurses went through hospital-based training programs. But someone told me about a two-year bachelor of science in nursing program that had an expansion grant speci cally targeting students like me with a bachelor’s degree in another area. I applied and was accepted to the program at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York, and I earned my initial nursing degree in 1976 (I now also hold a master’s degree in nursing and am a pediatric nurse practitioner as well as a child and family clinical nurse specialist) . Since then, I have enjoyed a 40-year-long (thus far!) career that I have never regretted for a moment.  \nMy rst nursing position was at Roosevelt Hospital in New York City. I specialized in pediatrics and pediatric critical care for more than 20 years before  \nnding myself as a school-based healthcare provider. Throughout my career, I have met the goals I initially set for myself when I  \nrst made my list: I have worked in Peru, Mexico, Ecuador, Nepal, and Israel, as well as in New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and California.  \nWhen I became a mother in 1996, the middle-of-the-night phone calls from the hospital saying “You need to come in”became more of a challenge. I realized I needed a position where I could work daytime hours within my eld of expertise and still have time to spend with my family. When I saw a posting for a school nurse  \nSusan Kitchell is the school nurse at the Galileo Academy of Science and Technology in the San Francisco Uni ed School District. A former hospital nurse, she has spent nearly 20 of her 40 years in nursing as a school nurse.  \nposition in the San Francisco Uni ed School District (SFUSD), I applied.  \nSince January of 1997, I have been a school nurse. In SFUSD, I have worked at both the elementary and secondary levels, and, over the years, my assignments have varied greatly. There were years when I worked in one high school and two middle schools, and there was one year when I hada different site each day. Luckily, for the past  \nve years, I have been at one secondary  \nBeing at a single site has allowed me to develop ongoing and meaningful relationships and engage with the wider community.  \nlevel site full time—the Galileo Academy of Science and Technology, a large urban highschool with nearly 2,000 students.  \nAs you can imagine, being spread thin with minimal time at multiple sites was pretty awful. It was dif cult to build relationships with  \nstudents and families and to connect with faculty and staff. Being at a single site has allowed me to develop ongoing and meaningful relationships and engage with the wider community.  \nUnfortunately, school nurses are not mandated in California schools, and not all SFUSD schools have nurses based on site. While nearly 40 nurses work in the district, SFUSD enrolls more than 57,000 students at more than 130 schools. Based on recommendations  \nfrom the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I should not be the only nurse at Galileo. The school should have two full-time nurses assigned, and another working with us a few times a week!  \nWhile some schools in SFUSD have a full-time nurse on a daily basis, the degree of need in every school is quite high. I fully b","cbCaijkJgneFULXx","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaijkJgneFULXx","pdf",501545,"English","# No Typical Day\n## Physical health responsibilities\n## Chronic conditions and emergencies\n## Mental health concerns","[{\"question\":\"Why did Susan Kitchell choose nursing as a career?\",\"answer\":\"She wanted a path that would allow her to support herself anywhere in the world and complete training within a short time. Nursing fit those criteria even though she had limited prior exposure to hospitals or serious illness.\"},{\"question\":\"What changed for her when she became a mother in 1996?\",\"answer\":\"Hospital phone calls in the middle of the night became more challenging. She sought daytime work within her expertise and applied for a school nurse position.\"},{\"question\":\"What does a school nurse do when students arrive with concerns?\",\"answer\":\"She assesses students’ physical health, determines what services they may need, and connects them to care. She also monitors chronic conditions and responds to emergencies, and she supports students whose mental health challenges may appear as physical complaints.\"}]","School Nurses Make a Difference | PDF",1792072704]